Foreign affairs
New French ambassador takes office in Lithuania
Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė on Monday accepted letters of credence from Ambassador Philippe Jeantaud of France. […]
European Union
Foreign affairs
Lithuania to preside over UN Security Council meeting on Mediterranean crisis
Lithuania will Monday preside over the meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, where thousands of migrants have perished while trying to cross from North Africa to Europe. […]
Uncategorized
Baltic states “black hole” in terms of transport
Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc has expressed her interest in the progress of the Rail Baltica project, as, according to her, the Baltic states are currently a “black hole” which needs to be incorporated in the European Union‘s (EU) transport network. […]
European Union
First months of EU’s free trade with Georgia and Moldova encouraging, Lithuanian official says
Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting on Trade took place on 7 May in Brussels. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Rolandas Kriščiūnas said that although the European Union‘s (EU) trade volume with Georgia and Moldova was growing, the benefit of free trade treaties would be revealed fully once the countries implemented economic, political and legal reforms. […]
Society
Lithuania celebrates Europe Day
The 9th of May marks the 65th anniversary of the historical Schuman Declaration. On that day in 1950 in Paris, French Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Schuman proclaimed the idea of supranational community which became the foundation of the European Union as we know it today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. […]
European Union
EU Commission’s Cecilia Malmström on TTIP progress: “Optimism is duty”
On Monday, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC. She provided an update to a large audience of trade specialists, interest groups and a large contingent of diplomatic staff in the US Capital as to how the EU is progressing with its trade strategy, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), given today’s realities. […]
Uncategorized
Ukraine expects answers on visa-free regime with EU, ambassador in Vilnius says
Ukraine expects that the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga later this month will provide answers about the perspectives of visa-free travels to the European Union (EU), Ukraine’s Ambassador to Lithuania Valeriy Zhovtenko told BNS. […]
Foreign affairs
Lithuanian and Swedish foreign ministers going to Moldova
The foreign ministers of Lithuania and Sweden are going to Moldova on Monday to discuss the country’s relations with the European Union (EU) and security matters. […]
Economy
ania’s unemployment in March at 9.5 percent
In March 2015, Lithuania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment level stood at 9.5 percent with 139 000 seekers in the country, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said. […]
Opinion
Opinion: How not to cede hearts and minds of Lithuanian citizens to Putin
Lithuania is very likely to be the only European Union country to completely boycott the end of World War Two commemoration event in Moscow on 9 May. Unlike our closest neighbours – Latvia and Estonia – we will not be even sending a diplomat to the ceremony. […]
European Union
Federica Mogherini and Victoria Nuland speak out on Common Security and Defence Policy
On Wednesday, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini was the keynote speaker in Washington D.C. at the 4th Annual Symposium organised by the European Union Representation to the US on Common Security and Defence Policy. […]
European Union
EC tells Lithuania to comply with obligations under EU document security legislation
The European Commission (EC) has asked four member-states, including Lithuania, to ensure the mandatory exchange of information under the European Union (EU) document security legislation and the integration of biometric features in residence permits, the EC reports. […]
European Union
Ambassador Ušackas to represent EU at Victory Day events in Moscow
The European Union‘s Ambassador to Russia Vygaudas Ušackas will represent the EU at commemorative events in Moscow held to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two. […]
Economy
Defence
A war of civilizations: diverging approaches to warfare and Russia’s military reform
Deividas Šlekys, military expert and lecturer at Vilnius University, discusses the nature of warfare and how it has transformed under liberal democracy. […]
Uncategorized
Polish president: Many EU countries want to lift sanctions on Russia
Many European Union countries want to lift the sanctions on Russia, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said in an interview with the newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. […]
Ukraine official says Kiev is getting weapons from EU
Ukraine is receiving weapons from some European Union countries, according to Ukraine’s deputy head of the president’s administration. […]
European Union
Russian ambassador says EU’s case against Gazprom is political and driven by Lithuania
Russian ambassador to the European Union has accused Lithuania of being the sole force behind the European Commission‘s investigation into possible market abuses by Gazprom. He also says the case against the Russian state-owned gas company is political. […]
Uncategorized
Lithuania only EU state to fully boycott 9 May celebrations in Moscow
Lithuania will probably be the only country of the European Union (EU) to fully boycott the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on 9 May, diplomats tell BNS. […]
European Union
Energy union, the EU’s next revolution
Big changes often seem to move forward painfully slowly, while the most sweeping of them get triggered by steps no one thought very consequential. It is especially true of the policies of the European Union with its notoriously cumbersome decision-making procedures and contradictory interests. Could the energy union be its next big thing? […]